Training to Audition vs. Training to Act

New actors can feel a tremendous urgency to book jobs because of their need for money, desire for validation, and the fear that each passing day makes them less cast-able. The result is they end up recklessly putting the cart before the horse and concentrate on making the sale before they have something to sell, pursuing the business of acting by getting headshots, submitting to agents and managers, and taking audition technique classes before they have acquired any kind of foundation for their craft. I’ve boiled down the basics for success in show business (the part you can control) to four words: Be seen, be good. You must not fixate on the being seen before you are sure you are going to be good.
Most acting schools offer audition classes and on-camera classes, and, while these are terrific skill to acquire, it’s laughable to think it can substitute for the skill of acting itself. For an on-camera class to be of real value the student must have a certain degree of capability and the seduction of it feeling like a professional experience ought not to replace the chances for someone to actually have one.
There’s an old expression that casting directors have memories like elephants and, for all your audition